195. Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens.
196. Plan of Temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens.
Baalbec.
The temples of Palmyra and Kangovar have been already mentioned in speaking of that of Jerusalem, to which class they seem to belong in their general arrangements, though their details are borrowed from Roman architecture. This, however, is not the case with the temples at Baalbec, which taken together and with their accompaniments, form the most magnificent temple group now left to us of their class and age. The great temple, if completed (which, however, probably it never was), would have been about 160 ft. by 290, and therefore, as a Corinthian temple, only inferior to that of Jupiter Olympius at Athens. Only nine of its colossal columns are now standing, but the bases of most of the others are in situ. Scarcely less magnificent than the temple itself was the court in which it stood, above 380 ft. square, and surrounded on three sides by recessed porticoes of most exuberant richness, though in perhaps rather questionable taste. In front of this was a hexagonal court of very great beauty, with a noble portico of 12 Corinthian columns, with two square blocks of masonry at each end. The whole extent of the portico is 260 ft., and of its kind it is perhaps unrivalled, certainly among the buildings of so late a date as the period to which it belongs.
197. Plan of Small Temple at Baalbec. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
198. Elevation of Small Temple at Baalbec. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.